Chapter 146 The Lucky Straw

While the host was upstairs sipping his bizarre beverage, the guests downstairs were picking up printed copies of the rules at the "desks" and starting to read.

Feng Bujue...was no exception.

Although he understood the rules and gameplay of number guessing pretty well, and was clear on what "six digits, ten numbers, repeatable" meant, he still read the rules with great interest, as a conscientious and cautious person, and a reading addict.

Brother Jue was a quick study with exceptional memory and comprehension. His well-trained mind was undoubtedly well-suited for this type of game.

Soon, he had mastered the rules...and started formulating a strategy in his head.

"Hmm...if Xiao Ling or Ouyang Jian were playing this game, they'd probably have a bigger advantage..." Feng Bujue thought to himself as he stood there. "Those two are both good at math, know how to apply it, and have great memories; even against me, their chances of winning would be over seventy percent..."

Brother Jue's math skills were actually quite average.

If he really put his mind to it...he could figure out the formula for standard number guessing, but he had never considered deriving a formula when playing this game before, because he believed that solving the game through reasoning was more beneficial for exercising the brain. Using a formula...wasn't "reasoning," but simply "calculation."

But now, with "winning and losing" at stake, the situation was different. Without a doubt...the person who mastered the "formula" would have a great advantage in this game.

However...coming up with the best solution formula under the "six-digit, ten-number, repeatable" rule was by no means an easy task.

It's not that the formula itself is so difficult. Given the mathematical level of most people with higher education, as long as they saw the correct formula, even if they didn't understand it, they would at least know how to use it.

However...it would be difficult for them to "derive" the formula from scratch.

It's like how many of us have studied advanced mathematics, but few can apply it to life (at the right time); it's also like how many of us have studied English for many years and passed many certificates, but still struggle to watch English movies without subtitles and have difficulty communicating with people from English-speaking countries...

Perhaps, during our student days, when we were learning and being exposed to this knowledge, if we took this "number guessing" problem as a question, someone could solve it—it's just hard to say how much time it would take.

Or, people with considerable mathematical attainments could come up with the optimal solution with a little thought when faced with this problem.

Unfortunately...it would be difficult to find people who meet these two conditions among the guests present.

The host's subordinates had naturally investigated and confirmed this when collecting information about these people.

Because the content of the game was conceived and decided by the host himself, his subordinates would definitely avoid inviting people to the ship who would have a huge advantage in a certain game.

For example—if the host came up with a game based on Go, his subordinates would naturally not invite someone with a professional Go player background when deciding on the guest list.

But...then again, with several hundred guests, there would inevitably be some who slipped through the net.

Of course, Brother Jue certainly didn't count; the reason he was able to impersonate Jiang Daode was not only because of the "Gambling Emperor Zhai's" shady operations, but also because Woody helped with a "hypnosis"-like ability; otherwise, it would be impossible for him to impersonate someone like Jiang Daode, who had been in the newspapers and magazines several times.

However, among the other guests, there were still one or two true "slip-ups."

And how did these people appear on the guest list? The reason is not complicated...

When the host's subordinates investigate a person's background, they definitely look at the data; for example, "served in the army," which can be inferred that the person can at least shoot and drive; or "graduated from a music academy," which basically confirms that the person's knowledge of music is far richer than the average person.

The above is the general situation; but things that are not on the "data" are not easy to infer...

Let's take Go as an example again: suppose there is a guest whose personal file has never had a formal record of learning Go, has never taken an amateur dan test, and has never participated in related competitions or any groups; however, he learned Go through other methods, such as self-study by reading books, self-training online, finding reclusive experts to be his teacher, or being possessed by a ghost...In this kind of situation, the host's subordinates would naturally not be able to find out.

Today, there is someone on this ship who is quite good at mathematics, and everyone, including the host...doesn't know this.

"Fortunately...the qualifying list for this round of games has as many as sixty-four people." Feng Bujue quickly formulated several strategies in his mind, and then started to daydream, "To say that a few people out of these two hundred people can come up with the best guessing formula in a short period of time is still possible; but to say that sixty-odd people can do it...that's too outrageous. Besides...this is not a game where you are guaranteed to win if you master the formula. Psychological games, gambling skills, luck...are all very important, and on these points..."

Thinking of this, Brother Jue couldn't help but show an evil smile under his mask, and thought to himself: "This bunch of suckers are just a bunch of ATMs..."

...

Ten minutes passed quickly.

By this time, most of the guests had finished reading the rules.

Originally, it wasn't a long-winded thing, and most people could finish reading and understand it in a few minutes.

However, no one went to duel...

Everyone stood still, no one dared to communicate with others, and no one invited others to duel.

Obviously...they were all "watching," everyone wanted others to be the guinea pig first, while they stood aside and accumulated "experience" by observing other people's duels.

"Heh...it's pretty much the same as those games in the past..." The host, who was watching the show from a high place, had already drunk most of his "red wine boiled sweet noodle sauce with wasabi" at this time, and muttered softly in a voice that the people below couldn't hear.

"Young master." Suit A (the one who brought the drink just now) took a few steps forward at this time, bent down, and said to the host, "Do you want...your subordinate to put some pressure on them..."

"No need." The host replied, "I just want to see how long it will take for someone to notice the value of 'time' in this game..." He paused, "Oh, by the way..." He said, tilting his head back and drinking the rest of the drink in the glass, and then said, "Go get me another cup of 'yellow peach jam with duck meat mousse and mashed potatoes', warm, make it a little thinner...also, this time remember to put a little umbrella on it."

"Uh..." Although Suit A was used to preparing all kinds of bizarre diets for the "young master," he couldn't help but be stunned every time he heard similar weird combinations.

"Okay...your subordinate will go prepare it now!" Two seconds later, he responded, took the empty cup handed over by the host, and left with the tray.

On the other hand, downstairs...

At this time, the atmosphere in the main hall had become increasingly tense.

Although everyone was trying their best to pretend to be "natural," in fact, they were anxiously waiting...waiting for someone to break the deadlock.

...

"Damn it...sure enough, no one is willing to go first..."

"Everyone is cunning and treacherous..."

"Anyone is fine, go duel quickly, just don't challenge me...I don't want to be the first one."

"Tch...it's so uncomfortable, I really want to take off the mask, but if I'm seen in this kind of occasion..."

"I really want to get a drink of water, but if I accidentally do something eye-catching at this time, I might be targeted..."

"Please, anything or anyone, even if someone breaks a plate...make some noise, break this uncomfortable atmosphere!"

...

At this extremely depressing moment.

Bang—

The door at the passage on the first floor was pushed open, and a suit and sunglasses man ran in panting.

Because he came in a hurry, he didn't notice the strange atmosphere in the main hall for a while; after entering the door, he quickly found Brother Jue in the crowd (after all, Feng Bujue was the only male guest dressed casually, so it wasn't difficult to find him), and walked quickly towards him.

"Sir." When he was about to arrive in front of Brother Jue, the suit and sunglasses man had already reached into his pocket to take something out, "This is the bendable straw you wanted." After saying that, he took out a whole package of unopened straws and handed it to Brother Jue, "Please take as many as you need yourself."

"Heh..." Brother Jue smiled at him, "All of these...I want them all."

After saying that, he directly took the whole package of straws from the other party.

The suit and sunglasses man hesitated for a moment, but because straws were not valuable or important things, he didn't stop him.

"Okay, thank you, big brother." After Feng Bujue took the package of straws, he politely thanked the other party, and then he opened the package and took out one.

This straw looked like it was of a better (expensive) kind. After opening the outer packaging, each of them had individual paper packaging.

Feng Bujue put the rest of the whole package of straws into his coat pocket, and tore open the paper packaging of the one in his hand, and then...walked to a round table with champagne on it, took a glass, and inserted the straw into it.

Throughout this process...everyone in the audience was watching him, even if some people pretended not to watch, their attention was on him.

"So...who should I start with." A few seconds later, Feng Bujue picked up the champagne, held it up to his eye level, and then...held the cup still.

At this moment, some people in the crowd suddenly changed their expressions...obviously, these people immediately realized what Brother Jue was going to do.

"Hmm...this way?" Feng Bujue watched the bent straw float a few times in the glass of champagne, and finally leaned against the wall of the cup and hung down to one side.

In the next second, he looked in the direction "pointed" by the straw...and focused his gaze on the person standing on that line, closest to him.

Coincidentally, that person...was the short, fat man with a Peking opera mask who had spoken to the host earlier.

"Okay, you're the one." Feng Bujue muttered casually, and pointed to the man, swinging his arm.

"You...what are you going to do?" The short, fat man was startled at the time, and couldn't help but take half a step back.

"What to do?" Feng Bujue repeated the other party's question, and then replied with a smile, "Heh...of course I'm here to challenge you—number guessing duel."

"You...you little brat..." The short, fat man came back to his senses and was a little annoyed, "You actually used such a casual method to decide..."

"Consider yourself unlucky." Feng Bujue interrupted him, and continued, "Okay, don't be long-winded, you shouldn't meet the condition of 'having played two games', right? So you can't refuse my challenge." He raised his hand and gestured towards a "desk" next to him, "Come on, don't waste time."

"Humph..." Two seconds later, the short, fat man snorted coldly. Then, he raised his hand and straightened the collar of his evening dress, and then raised his head, and walked to the cart pointed by Brother Jue with what he thought was a "dignified and steady" pace.

"I hope you won't regret this rash decision." He looked at Feng Bujue and said in a rather loud voice.

This sentence was not only for Brother Jue, but also for everyone around him and the host.

The short, fat man also knew very well...at this moment, he and the man with the crow mask in front of him had become the focus of the audience. Their duel process and results may affect the entire game that follows.

"Oh, oh..." Feng Bujue responded very perfunctorily to the short, fat man's verbal intimidation, and continued, "This gentleman, given that we will have a lot of communication next, I wonder...what should I call you?"

"Whatever you want." The short, fat man replied unhappily.

"Are you sure? Slowpoke." Feng Bujue's next sentence immediately made the other party change his mind.

"What did you call me?" I don't know why, at this time, the short, fat man's mind flashed again with Brother Jue's sentence "You're the one" not long ago...

"Don't like it? You said whatever I want, Slowbro." Feng Bujue said again.

When he said this, several people in the crowd with low laughing points couldn't help but laugh, but they all covered their faces and laughed softly, without making a sound...after all, they didn't want to attract attention.

"Okay, okay..." The short, fat man compromised before Brother Jue could call out the names of other Pokemon, "Just call me 'Mr. Jing'."